Arizona Legislative Democrats refuse to sit idly by as state officials continue to fail our
community’s vulnerable children.
The Department of
Child Safety remains in crisis. Latest reports show there are nearly 19,000
kids in need of foster homes. On Jan. 29, DCS Director McKay told the Child
Safety Oversight Committee that the
backlog, as of that month, is still 13,366 cases.
There needs to me
more accountability both from the agency and the governor, who should oversee
its operations. This is why Democrats proposed
legislation that will require that recommendations from an independent review of the
agency be implemented. This would cost the state nothing, and it is imperative
to have tools in place to help protect kids and prevent the trauma caused by the
unnecessary separation of families.
Legislative Democrats
also propose reinvesting in preventive services, keeping kids with their
families, providing training and support for family-member caregivers and
curbing staff turnover at DCS. The Arizona Capitol Times recently
reported an “exodus”from
DCS in 2015, citing about one-fourth of the department’s employees
leaving.
Legislative Democrats
want to increase the wages for DCS caseworkers by five percent to help reduce
the turnover rate and retain caseworkers. Last year, McKay told the Child Safety Oversight Committee many
employees are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of their caseloads. He shared that
an employee confided that many of the staff have boxes under their desks of
“abandoned cases that came from the last people that quit,” and that there is
pervasive concern that a child in one of the cases in those boxes could
die.
This
lack of leadership cannot continue. Democrats have a plan
to move Arizona forward that includes correcting the DCS crisis and protecting
kids in Arizona communities who remain vulnerable. To see a summary of this
plan, click
here.
#DemsLead
